1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for reducing current consumption in a mobile terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for reducing current consumption in a mobile terminal capable of connecting with a four-pole plug ear microphone accessory having a call button, and an apparatus thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a mobile terminal has been developed into a multi-media device capable of providing various additional services such as an electronic book function, a game function, and a schedule management function. Accordingly, the mobile terminal connects with various peripheral devices and has extended its functions to a music listening function, a movie watching function, and a photographing function. In general, the mobile terminal includes a jack interface for connecting with other peripheral devices. A plug of a peripheral device such as a speaker, an ear microphone, and a headset is connected to the jack interface. Examples of the plug of a peripheral device may include a three-pole plug with a three-pole access point or a four-pole plug with a four-pole access point.
In a case of an ear microphone with a four-pole plug, the four-pole plug includes a microphone terminal to which DC power is applied and a button executing a call (SEND/END) function to perform phone reception and termination functions upon reception of a phone call. In this case, because the button executing the call function is connected between a microphone terminal and a ground terminal of the four-pole plug, a microphone bias should be applied to the microphone terminal to detect the presence of an operation of the button.
In the related art, to detect the presence of an operation of the button regardless of an idle state or a call connection state of a mobile terminal, a microphone bias should be continuously applied to a microphone terminal. However, the continuous application of the microphone bias causes unnecessary consumption in the mobile terminal.